Media content for television is produced in a multitude of formats, such as video standards NTSC, PAL, SECAM, and the like, which all have different, non-standard pixel aspect ratios. An aspect ratio of a television format is the proportional relationship between the width of a displayed image and the height of the displayed image. For example, movies are typically filmed with a camera having a 16:9 aspect ratio and are currently best viewed on a widescreen, high-definition television that also has a 16:9 aspect ratio. A typical television or computer display has a 4:3 aspect ratio which means that a television program is viewed as almost a square. When a 16:9 movie is displayed on a typical 4:3 television, the two sides of the movie are cut-off from being viewed. Alternatively, the competitors in a sports program designed for display on a typical 4:3 television will appear to be stretched out of proportion when viewed on a 16:9 widescreen television.
In addition to stretched or out of proportion sports viewing, overlaying graphics may be unreadable or off-screen altogether, such as a box score or the information banner for a baseball game that includes the score displayed at the top of the screen. Sporting events as well as other television programs are typically designed for the lowest common aspect ratio of a conventional 4:3 television because if not, viewers with a 4:3 aspect ratio display would not see all of the playing field and miss some of the action if the image were designed for a 16:9 aspect ratio. Consequently, viewers with widescreen televisions having a 16:9 aspect ratio have had to settle for a disproportionate view of many programs with images designed for a 4:3 aspect ratio display. Similarly, most viewers that watch movies filmed in a 16:9 aspect ratio on a typical 4:3 television miss the portions of the movie that are cut-off at the sides to be displayed on the typical standard definition television.
The non-standard aspect ratios of the multiple video standard formats are also a challenge to media content designers, such as for interactive television that can include various text, graphics, and images displayed over a television program. Typically, a designer has to scale and position the overlaying media content, such as for picture-in-picture, ticker banners, and the like, to display properly. Media content such as the text, graphics, images, and video are scaled and positioned to roughly approximate a television layout format, taking into account the display resolution, aspect ratio, and other factors to approximate a layout for the media content according to pixel positioning.